The Bonne Chronicles 3: The Hunt for Atlas
by OcelotRunner
Summary: After defecting from the ranks of Dr. Light's army, Scott and Tracy discover a new path to saving the Country. The only things standing in their way are an army of android officers, another would-be savior, and a General hellbent on their demise.
1. Severance Package

_**(Note from the author: The events of The Hunt for Atlas parallel Megaman. I suggest if you haven't read the Megaman series that you do so first, to prevent possible spoilers. Enjoy!)**_

 **Chapter 1**

 **Chesapeake, Virginia- Former home of The Wraiths**

Scott paced behind his sister, as she watched the holofeeds intently. The fat, balding man, named Maglia, screamed in agony as Scott pushed his fingers backwards. "Try and not focus on the torture bit too much." He said to Tracy, who seemed completely unaffected. "What's important is what's coming up."

"Scott," she replied quietly, not looking back.

"Yeah?" He responded.

"Shut up, please." Tracy said, watching the holo closely.

He gave a thumbs up, and went back to pacing Vapor's old workspace.

"I've already told you," Maglia said, catching his breath, "the Atlas is the key to everything. No one stands a chance against the machines as long as Wily keeps it hidden."

"So we get to Wily, force him to shut the machines down." Holo Scott stated.

Maglia chuckled, "One problem protects the other, you imbecile. You can't get the Atlas without getting Wily, and you can't get to Wily as long as he can use the Atlas. You're only hope is that one of his officers get their hands on it, and even then it'll just be a new, stronger adversary." Maglia grinned, shaking his head slowly at Scott. "No matter what you do, Bonne, your little gang of misfits is destined to fail. Give up, enjoy what little walks of living you all have left."

Holo Scott scratched his chin, without acknowledging Maglia's taunts, "What would happen if an android got a hold of the card?" He asked simply.

Maglia's smile dropped, "It's irrelevant. Not something you should concern yourself with."

Scott walked slowly toward the man, "I will decide my levels of concern. You however still have one good walking ankle."

Maglia recoiled quickly as Scott reached for his leg, "Fine, alright!" He said in submission. "I was with Wily when he discovered a fatal and irreparable flaw with the Atlas. Being the ultimate power source of all artificial intelligence, if a being with a high enough amount of the intelligence portion were to install the card's contents into his own core, it would be capable of almost anything." He wiped the sweat from his brow, "We're talking _God_ -level powers, Bonne. Trust me, _that_ is the last thing you want."

Tracy clicked the holo away, turning around to face her brother. She whispered. "I should have looked at this first." She said, putting her head in her palms. "I just handed it over to him."

Scott walked over to her, putting a hand on her shoulder, "Listen, Tron. Light may have turned out to be an enormous asshole, but I must have had a good reason to trust him." He told her.

She looked up at him, raising an eyebrow, "I wish like hell you had told me." She replied. "Either way, we need to find a way out of the country."

Scott straightened up, taken back a little, "'Out of the country'?" He asked. "Tron, imagine what we could do with this card. Before, we thought it would just turn off Wily's machines. But now..." He pointed to the holo display, "We can _control_ them, lead them, become the nation's saviors. Shit Tron, we could save the fucking _world._ "

Tracy chuckled, "I can't believe it, as hard as I worked on your programming, you are still an idiot." She stood up, "The entire military was wiped out, The Wraiths were wiped out, _you_ even couldn't get to Wily and that was _with_ Light's resources and troops. But now all of the sudden, alone and broken, the Bonnes are gonna get it done?" She laughed, "We don't even have a fucking car, Scott."

Scott grinned at her, "Nah. We don't." He said.

The hangar doors opened slowly, creaking loudly. Standing in front of the colossal freighter always made Tracy feel like an insect. She looked on in wonder, forgetting it's beauty over the years. "Scott," she said quietly, "you know it doesn't work, right?"

Rush barked, looking up at her, Scott smiled, "I think he knows what I'm about to say."

She shook her head, "You realize how long this will take to fix? Even if I could get all of my servbots here to help, we're talking a year, maybe more." She sighed, "I didn't tell you but after The White House incident, Wily executed Dr. Light's son."

Scott recoiled, "What?! He killed Alex?!"

She remained calm, "I think it get's worse Scott. Light went recluse, rumors were spreading that he was constructing another android, to get revenge. If we intend to get to Wily, we need to get this ship fixed before Light finishes his project."

Scott looked back at her, calmly, "Then the first thing we need to do is get your things from Light Tower, _quickly._ "

 **Boston, Massachusetts- One Month Later**

One thing being a part of The Wraiths had taught them, was invisibility. Not in the literal sense, but by way of action. Tracy walked down the block, a black slicker protecting her from the torrential rain storm. She had been staying on the outskirts of town, waiting for the hurricane to hit land, for a week. She kept her head down, as she passed Light Tower, continuing north.

The storm made pushing the wood chips and mud a lot easier. Tracy crouched low behind the shrubbery of the Faneuil Hall, digging up the emergency hatch. She pulled a small device from her jacket, activating it. The holo scrolled and shifted for a few seconds, before the door slid back. Tracy descended the stairwell, removing the large bag from under her wet poncho. She pulled Robbie out, brushing the dust off of his head. "Alright kiddo, go do what you do." She told him, giving him a pat on the head before he went running up the long underground corridor.

She walked the tunnel, looking at the intricate structuring, admiring the work that had gone into making the escape route. She stopped a few yards from the door leading into Light Tower's lobby, looking at Robbie's holodisplay, he was in the main hall, shuffling along unnoticed. "Alright, stop there little man." She said, before keying into their security systems.

The "State of Disaster" alert blared over the systems, urging everyone to evacuate immediately. She watched on Robbie's holo, as the mass of people crowded through. Tracy approached the door, slipping into the crowd, and following them outside into the rain. She used her wrist contraption to have her servbots file into the corridor during the chaos, evacuating back to Faneuil Hall.

There were murmurs of hundreds of people in large rain ponchos, standing on the sidewalks. The confusion was spreading, quickly, but Tracy just kept her head down, waiting for the "False Alarm" announcement. When the voice rang out, the herd filed back inside. Tracy eyed the door in the back corner, making sure it was closed and sealed. She navigated the building, being sure not to turn towards the cameras, until she made her way to the elevator.

When she reached the top floor, she activated a feed disruption as she quickly made her way to her lab. Tracy pulled the small black box from her pack, sprung up its menu and looped her lab's cameras. "Scott, you in place?" She commed.

Scott sat in a massive, stolen, Toys 'R' Us truck, behind Faneuil Hall, watching hundreds upon hundreds of servbots pile into the back. "Yeah, I'm here. How many of these damn things did you make?" He asked.

"Lost count." Tracy replied, as she began filling crates with her supplies. "I'm packing up, now. Go ahead and set up the retrieval line."

"Already on it." Scott responded, mounting the large, reinforced pole to the concrete. "Is the beacon in place?" He asked.

Tracy opened the large viewport, leaning out into the night and stuck a flat, clear sticker-like flimsy on the building, above the window. "Done" she said.

Scott reached up, pressing a red key at the top of the shaft. A thick, steel cable shot out the tip, soaring off into the night at high speeds, like an airborne viper on the hunt. "Comin' in hot, Tron." He stated.

Tracy started attaching the hooks to the boxes, as the cable slapped into the concrete wall outside. The crates went for a ride, while she made her way back across the empty lab. She had grown to despise this place, since she had found out she was being used all these years. _Now it's my turn._ She thought, as she crouched down, pulling up the holo menu on the frequency transmitter box. After a few minutes of programming, she encrypted the lab's door, hacked into Light Tower's confidential database, and checked her e-mail. "Alright, Tron. That's everything, we need to go now." Scott said, in her ear.

"On my way." She said calmly, looking around at the empty room. She wouldn't admit it, but she actually missed working here. She shook the feeling, approaching the window and riding the zipline to her brother, three blocks away.

Scott caught her around the waist as she came down the line, stopping her. "Did you get my shoes?" He asked smiling.

Tracy unhooked her harness quietly, then looked into his face, seriously. "When we get The Phantom up and running, we go after Wily. I've made up my mind."

Scoot turned his head, "What happened to survival? Escaping?"

She shook her head, "Looking at those people, tonight. They don't deserve to live like this because of an asshole who was born _smart_." She looked back to the tower, "And we can't allow _him_ to repeat that cycle." She smiled at her brother, "It's about time the little guy gets the win, Scott. Now let's get our asses back to Virginia."

Scott nodded, grinning as they got into the truck, "Fuckin' 'A'." He said simply.


	2. Home Invasion

**Chapter 2**

 _ **Chesapeake, Virginia- One Year Later**_

Being a super being was beginning to prove annoying, as Protoman tried desperately to fend off the large hunks of steel being hurled his way. His mastery of Shroud's magnetic field control was not as easy as he imagined. Tron was relentless, she sat inside the massive, black mech, continuing her assault.

"Send them back." She said from across the hangar, large mechanical arm pointing to the debris. "We have to start again."

Protoman shook his head, "There won't be much left of me if we _do._ Give me repair time, Tron, shit."

"Wily's officers won't let you go back to the lab for repairs when you are coming to kill them." She said, flatly. "I'll slow it down until you get into a rhythm, though. Fair enough?"

Scott nodded, "Thank you, yes." He said, extending a hand, sending the metal chunks sliding back to his sister's feet, before crouching back into position. "Magneto made this shit look easy." He muttered.

"Magneto is a fictional character, Scott." Tracy shouted as her machine picked up a large pipe, "You have a real responsibility." She added, throwing the object like a javelin.

He threw his hand up, feeling the magnetic field extending from ports of his gauntlets. Imagining them as an extension of self, he reached out catching the pipe mid-air, tossing it to the side as he dashed forward. The pieces came hard at him, prompting him to draw his hilt, batting them aside with the ejected baton. Scott put his right arm up, creating a polarized shield, protecting his flank as the debris bounced off the seemingly thin air. Getting close to Tron, he ejected the other end of the baton, creating a steel staff. He jumped for where she sat, switching hands to grab Rush, who pounced to intercept him, and toss him aside magnetically.

Tron's mech switched it's colossal hands out for rotating machine guns, zeroing in on her brother, who quickly grasped the machine, pinning it to the floor. Protoman's feet landed firmly on the mech's shoulders, as he swung the staff, stopping milimeters before Tracy's face. "Point." He said, proudly.

Tron smirked, pointing to his left, where a servbot had crawled out of the machine's forearm port. The small soldier had a sizable hand cannon zeroed in on the side of his temple. "Point." She said, mocking him.

 _ **Washington, D.C.- The White House**_

Gutsman sat at his desk, staring at Quickman's face on the holo display. "How much of a gamble are you willing to take on this droid's reports?" He asked.

"How many times have I been wrong, General?" He replied. "My scout droid says that there is a massive power source leading to The Wraith's old hideout. Someone is there, and doing something _big_ , Sir."

Guts stroked his goatee, Shroud had supposedly destroyed that compound, so if there were power generating there, it had to be a Rancor. "Comm Gyroman, have him meet me three miles out, at the harbor. I want to handle this for myself, _if_ it is what you think it is." He said, standing form his chair.

"You're...going _personally_?" Quickman asked, baffled.

"Yes, Quick, I am." Guts replied, pulling out the steel case, slamming it on the desk. "When I get my hands on the bag of flesh that killed my brother, he will know why Lord Zero named me Gutsman."

 _ **Chesapeake, Virginia**_

Tracy and Scott sat aboard The Phantom. They had moved all their things into the ship, once Tracy had gotten the power activated. Roll was right, it was just too strange staying in the house since the attack. "So you're trying to tell me," Tracy said, eating her noodles and pointing her chopsticks at Scott, "that there's a holo older than the holo the argument is about, where the green guy doesn't even pull his blaster?" She asked.

Scott nodded, " _That_ was a remastered version, as they called it. In the original recording Greedo didn't ev..."

The sentence was cut short, as the motion sensors from the north side buzzed loudly. Their heads snapped to the camera feed where whatever had set them off was moving quickly, for the emergency hatch.

Tron immediately made a dash for her Engineering Bay, as Protoman slipped on his helmet, drawing his hilt. The very shaft that Tron had used to escape years ago, was now filled with flying assault drones, resembling skulls with propellers. Approaching the ship, Protoman emerged, giving all of them a smug grin.

"Toys." He said simply, before ejecting his staff and maneuvering his way through the swarm, batting down the drones with ease.

A group of more than a hundred of the skullcopters surrounded him, opening their mouths, charging fusion bolts. Scott eyed them, raising his left hand, then bringing it back down, sending them crashing hard to the floor. He smiled at the circle of destruction he had caused, before being rudely interrupted.

"Well, that's interesting, now ain't it?" A voice said, from the hangar entrance. Gyroman stood in the doorway, clad in a grey nanosuit, trimmed with dark green lining. His matching gauntlets bore "V" shaped shafts on the wrists, each with openings on their tips. His helmet resembled Protoman's, aside from the black and green tint, and steel Valkyrie wings arcing back from the sides. He was flanked by dozens of alpha-class security bots, followed by an eye-widening sight.

Gutsman brought up the rear of the convoy, wearing his red gauntlets and boots, and his yellow and silver helmet, only showing his eyes. A wave of guilt and shame washed over him, and quickly turned to anger. "Bring me his head." Guts said plainly to his subordinates, who wasted little time closing in on their target.

Protoman was quick to deploy his shield, deflecting the volley of bolts, before hurling it forward, sending it bouncing like a pinball into the crowd. "So _that's_ what that's like." He muttered, pulling it back magnetically. Firing off fusion discs, he charged headlong into the surviving crowd, bashing them aside. Proto was determined to reach their leaders, which quickly dawned on him, was _not_ the best course of action.

Gutsman caught the end of the flailing staff with ease, as Gyro deployed a long, rectangular blade swiping for Proto's spine. Their quarry was quick though, planting a foot on Guts' thigh and launching himself into a backflip, avoiding the blow. Gutsman released the staff as his armor sprung into place, narrowly intercepting his comrade's razor to his stomach. The blade broke in two, but Gyro wasted no time transmuting two more, dangling from steel chains.

The android's weaponry, however impressive, was impractical. In a close-quarters melee Protoman easily avoided the swinging cutters, diverting them magnetically to cause harm to the remaining security droids. Once within range, Scott deployed his baton and weaved his instinctual pattern: Rib, rib, head, knee, turn. Gyro's thrashing could not keep up. He turned desperately to get a hand on his attacker, but was forced to retreat back. Small blades deployed from the back plating of his armor, spinning furiously as they lifted him away from danger. He threw a straight blade directly for Protoman's skull, which was stopped short, when the android raised his left hand.

Gutsman, disgusted, had had enough of the spectacle. Scott Bonne standing with his hand out, suspending the blade and holding Gyro in place infuriated him. He calmly walked up behind the android, wrapping an armored elbow around his neck, throwing him over his hip, to the floor. With Protoman still in the chokehold, struggling to get free, he leaned down to him and whispered, "I hope killing a fellow brother was worth it, Bonne." Guts tightened his grip, "Because I hear having your head pulled from your body is a painful process." As the General wrenched at Scott's neck he felt a sudden and intense heat on his back, causing a rush of extreme pain. He released his hold, letting out an angered scream as the armor sprang to cover his entire body.

Robbie stood holding an industrial torch, three times bigger than him. The hulking android spun on him, this was when his programming reminded him that he wasn't designed for battle. The servbot turned to run, but Gutsman had already caught him in his tracks. "Gyro." He called over his shoulder, looking the servbot up and down, "Finish the job here, I have some _research_ to tend to regarding this interesting small being."

"As you wish, Sir." Gyro replied, descending back to the ground and approaching the floored Protoman. He transmuted another large straight blade, gripped by a ring, "This time we can assure that you stay dead, Bonne."

Protoman lifted himself to his knees, laughing. "Congratulations, mighty Gyroman, you just killed yourself." He said, continuing to laugh as the android looked on confused. "I'm assuming your General informed everyone that he had dealt with me at The White House. How do you think King Wily will take it that his Second in Command lied to his face?" Proto spit out red fluid, giving Gyro a serious look now, "And how do you figure Gutsman will keep him from finding out?"

Guts stood, still gripping the servbot, staring intently at Gyro. "Don't let him mess with your head. Finish this." He said.

"You're gonna try and kill me. He's right!" Gyro yelled, "Once you saw who it was, you had no intention on leaving here with me!"

"Gyro! Get your shit together and finish the job!" Guts screamed.

"Hey, I got an idea!" Tracy's voice called from The Phantom, "How about we start with _you_ putting my fucking robot down." She stepped out in her colossal mech suit, "Then we can just see who kills who here."

Guts dropped the servbot, raising his armored foot to smash it when the impact hit his chest like a wrecking ball. The fist was the same size as him and was launched from the arm of Tron's machine like a rocket. She was quick to rush toward his rolling body, bashing crates and machinery aside as she chased him. He quickly armored up to deflect the heavy automatic fire from the machines shoulder mounted guns. Moving close for a brawl, the two hulks locked into each other, desperately trying to rip their foe to shreds.

Gyro made a quick effort to execute Scott in light of these events, but was stopped mid swing and found himself paralyzed. Protoman jumped to his feet, holding out his left hand, and drawing his baton with his right. He landed four devastating blows to the android's head, before the building shook violently. "Tron! The ship!" He screamed, watching his sister fling Gutsman away like a small animal.

The two boarded The Phantom with panicked haste, as Tracy jumped from her suit, manning the controls. In seconds the aircraft was smashing through the bay doors and vanishing into the distance. Protoman looked out the viewports, watching the leagues of assault ships coming down on their former compound. "Guess we are officially nomads, Tron." He said solemnly. Tracy only looked back to him, shrugging nonchalantly.

Gutsman walked through the wreckage, his anger immeasurable. He came to where Gyroman lay, still gathering his senses. "They got away?" Gyro asked, looking up at the General. Guts nodded. "You're gonna kill me, aren't you?" He added. This time the General said nothing, picking up the large razor and separating Gyro's head from his body.

When the hoards of support droids flooded in, Guts met them at the opening, ordering the area all clear. He commed Quickman as soon as they were gone. "General," Quick greeted him.

"We need to talk." Guts said simply.

Quickman grinned and nodded, knowing he was safe from the Gutsman at his current distance. "Indeed we do, General." He said, slyly.


	3. Alive

**Chapter 3**

 _ **Willis Tower-Chicago, Illinois**_

Quickman's "office" was quite sizable. Guts sat patiently, waiting for his comrade to finish the debriefing reports with King Wily. The android strolled in, donning a cocky smirk to greet his General. "All of the holo-imagery and audio from last nights little 'raid' has been relayed to the others." Quick stated, sitting down. "But for some reason or another, the feed must have been distorted by some magnetic field device, owned by Tracy Bonne and her 'personal task force'." He added air-quotations to the last part, seemingly to mock Gutsman.

Guts cut his eyes at the android, "As much as I _appreciate_ your assistance," He began through his teeth, "my patience for your patronage is wearing thin, Quick."

Quckman's smile faded, "Let me remind you of something, _General._ The penalty for falsifying a completed order, _especially_ one that directly concerns the King's safety, is punishable by entombment." He said, leaning forward. "How would the mighty General Gutsman fare encased in concrete?" He leaned back, now. "Now what kind of fellow brother would I be to let that happen to you?"

Guts leaned forward onto the steel desk, "What do you want?" He asked quietly.

"The Bonnes." The android replied simply. "Alive."

Guts cocked an eyebrow, "Not a chance. Those two are mine, change your price."

Quickman shook his head slowly, "You want them because your massive pride hurts. They _ambushed and murdered_ my friend." He said angrily. "The Bonnes, alive." He repeated.

"I could just kill _you_." Guts informed him quietly.

Quickman was instantly across the room, pacing like a cornered animal, "Could you though, _Sir_?" He said quietly, before seemingly vanishing and reappearing by the viewport, staring out at the city. "Irony, General. All the impenetrable armor and battle genius you possess, and you are nothing against the clicks of a few keys." Again Quick blurred and stopped, standing by his office door, "The question that stands to be answered here is this." He leaned forward, "Can you get around that desk, before I get to my command center?"

Guts stood up, eying his _subordinate._ "The Bonnes." He said.

"Alive." Quickman finished. As Gutsman passed, Quick put a hand up, stopping him, "One more detail," He said grinning, but not turning to look at the General, "I also informed King Wily that you confirmed the killing of Tracy Bonne and her men."

 _ **The Phantom-Location unknown**_

Scott watched his sister pace angrily in front of the holovision. "Tron, this isn't _that_ bad." He stated.

"'Isn't that bad'? Are you kidding me?" She responded. "Did you not notice our home crumbling as we turned tail, Scott?" She shouted. "We need to leave now, we've been fighting this battle long enough!"

Scott leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees, looking up at her. "Tracy, do you realize how close we are to not only ending this war, but reshaping it afterward?" He asked. "Did you think they were just gonna let us waltz in and ask for the Atlas?"

Tracy shook her head slowly, "Scott, I know that it was my idea to bring you back into this mess, but please, let it go. We are more than lucky to even be alive."

Scott started to concede, as he always did when she got emotional, until he looked behind her. "No fucking way." He stated simply.

Tracy spun to the holovision, playing a live breaking news feed. Wily's machines were flying frantically, shooting down the underground media drones. But there were always new angles, and the message was clear, "The New Sentinel of Megatropolis, Megaman." The aerial view showed a large compound, smoking in the night, as leagues of people filed into rescue transports. Tracy's eyes grew wide as the final figure walked out, donning a blue nanosuit and carrying the severed head of one of Wily's top officers, Cutman.

Scott pointed at the display, "You're gonna let _Alex_ be this country's hope?" He asked.

Tracy looked back to him, grinning, "Actually, _yes_. That's exactly what we want." She noticed that Scott was deciding whether to reply or not, so she made the choice for him. "Get off your ass, we need to get some firepower if we're gonna keep up with the _Megaman_." She said, heading over to the console.

 _ **The White House-Washington, D.C.**_

 _ **24 Hours Later**_

The pale room was silent, save for the hum of the lights that were beginning to eat at Curtis Wily's mental stability. Staring at Cutman's headless corpse wasn't giving him any answers, but he couldn't divert his eyes. He had put a lot of hard work into his machines, especially his officers, and seeing them in such a state made him feel a personal sting, like having a prized possession vandalized.

The silence was broken by the sound of opening doors. His General came striding in, somberly, unsure of what King Wily had summoned him for. "Sir," he began.

"Eleven years." Wily said, cutting him off.

Gutsman stood in the silence, awaiting more dialogue. He subtly looked Wily up and down, trying to catch a glimpse of the Atlas receiver, just in case. "Eleven years, Sir?" He replied.

Wily continued to stare at the body, "Eleven years, Guts, and no officer casualties, even during the takeover." He said, turning to the General. "We've lost three in the past two years. I fear the end coming soon."

Guts could sense a slight defeat in Wily's eyes. His first thoughts were how he could use this to his advantage. "Sir, this 'Megam...'"

"Megaman!" Wily shouted, "Alex Light is _dead!"_ He had seemingly snapped from despair to blind rage in a tenth of a second. "I want his fucking android doppelganger to join him in that state of being!" Wily's long grey hair hung in face, but his psychotic gaze was well seen by his subordinate. "I am giving you direct orders to bring me Preston's creation, _DEAD!_ You do anything within your power, kill whoever you need, I want Megaman dead!"

"Understood, Sir." Guts replied, simply. Over the years Guts had seen King Wily become complacent, seemingly weak at times even, but this was a side he hadn't seen since the takeover. The android looked intent, but was smiling on the inside. However this would play out, it would be to his benefit. That was, of course, if the Bonnes could be dealt with quietly. _Simple enough._ He thought.

 _ **Union County Courthouse-Blairsville, GA**_

"So let me get this straight." Protoman began, standing at the open hatch looking miles below at the large courthouse. "Rush and I are going to jump from the ship, then he will become something like a flying snowboard for me to ride?"

The dog looked to Tron with the same amount of concern. She nodded assuredly, "Yes, guys. Trust me, it will work. I've done all the weight distributions to trajectory capabilities." Tracy could tell they were still worried, she put her hand to her forehead, closing her eyes. They didn't have time for this, "Okay, look. To put it simply..."

Without warning, Tron shoved Scott into the open night sky. As his somewhat comedic yell trailed away, she looked over to Rush, kneeling down sarcastically, as if addressing a small puppy, "Go get him, buddy!" She said playfully.

Rush, shaking his head in an eerily human way, dove from The Phantom. Proto plummeted at high rates, cursing his sister at every chance. Rush came into view, using the BSTR collar to alter his form for transport. Scott magnetically pulled his feet to his companion's flattened back as the dog guided him to the clock tower, where defenses were absent. Protoman jumped from Rush's back sticking himself to the steel-plated structure, whistling the "Spiderman" theme as he crawled his way through the open skylight.

The interior of the structure had not been maintained in years, this much was apparent as Scott scaled down the dilapidated support beams. "I hate you." He said simply over comms.

"You lived." Tron replied dryly. "Make your way to the Main Courtroom. Security should be lax, Wily hasn't needed him since the end of the takeover."

"Then why exactly did you think this would be a _prime_ target" Proto asked, dropping into maintenance mezzanine on the second floor.

"Cover is a necessity in assault." Tron replied. "It pays to be able to disappear from sight in the heat of battle."

Scott nodded, "So you're Sun Tzu now?" He asked.

"Just kill the fucking android, Scott." Tron replied, giving a sarcastic smirk. "You will just have to trust me on this."

Tron wasn't exaggerating, there was no security throughout the building. No cameras, no drones, nothing. Protoman strolled through the coat room, flipping his hilt, unamused. When he entered the courtroom his foe sat lazily behind the judge's bench.

Dustman was still clad in his white nanosuit with octagonal webbing interlaced. The long black cloak draped his shoulders, hanging to the floor. His grey gauntlets were slotted with circular openings on the top knuckles. His expression was a mystery due to the black gas-mask covering his face, with the slight orange glow of his goggles, slightly illuminating his dark eyes. Though he was aware of the intruder to his left, he didn't bother to look upon him. "Do you have any idea what use dust transmutation is after the war has been won?" He asked in a whisper-like, robotic voice.

Protoman extended his staff, approaching cautiously.

"I've been in this building, awaiting orders, for a decade now." Dust continued. "But what does the Megaman gain from killing _me_?" He asked aloud, turning to look at his attacker. His eyes flashed a tinge of confusion as he looked to Scott, "Interesting." Dust said, simply. "You're not him."

Scott neared closer, lowering his visor. "You've been waiting here, this whole time, to be killed?" He asked.

Dustman laughed, subtly. " _Killed?_ " He asked. "You misunderstand, Mystery Man." The android rose from the bench, throwing the cloak over his back. "I've been waiting for a _fool._ "

Before Scott could process what was happening, the android's hands rose, and the thick, grey dust was filling the room like a sandstorm. Vision was the first thing to go, as Protoman lowered his visor completely, sealing it tight. But that didn't save his fusion launchers which found themselves clogged and unable to function properly. The faint orange glow of Dustman's goggles emerged in haste, through the storm, before the impact knocked Scott sideways, shaking his sensors.

Like a ghost, Dustman was nowhere to be seen through the mess. The irony wasn't lost on Protoman. He stood slowly, taking up a defensive stance. If the android wanted to play "who's the better wraith", then Scott would oblige. He ejected his shield, scanning the room for the faint glow, which came once again, faster this time. Scott smiled beneath his visor, ready for to play.


	4. Darkness and the Devil

**Chapter 4**

Gutsman sat aboard his ship, The Accolade was pitch black save for the glowing holodisplay of Quickman. " _How far out are you, General?_ " The image questioned.

Guts rolled his eyes at the question. The audacity of an inferior officer giving _him_ orders, it was sickening. "I'm twenty minutes from arrival, Quick. Five minutes closer than when you asked five minutes ago." He replied.

" _Dust has confronted Bonne, Sir. He's giving a monologue at the moment, but I'm beginning to fear your window may be closing."_ Quickman responded.

"Dust is more than competent to defend himself. Calm down, I'll bring you the Bonnes." Guts replied, staring into the open sky.

 _ **Union County Courthouse**_

The fast right hook came through the dark, blinding cloud like a swinging hammer. Protoman put his shield up only deflecting the blow slightly. When his foe's feet hit the ground, he made a low sweep with his staff, knocking Dustman to his back. Before the other end could jam through the eye socket of the androids mask, he was gone. Dust had rolled himself back into the storm, like a snake in the grass. Only being able to see inches in front of his visor, Protoman pulled cones of magnetic waves toward himself randomly, assaulting only scrap.

Dustman stalked his opponent, savoring every moment. He looked at the mystery android through his electronic pulse goggles, watching him fight blindly in the dust. The order to his core chip came through instantly:

 _ **Issuer:** .XRX701_

 _Do not destroy target._

 _Keep alive until my arrival._

 _"_ Alive" meant a lot of things to Dust: _Alive_ with no leg feeling, _alive_ with no arm movement, _alive_ with no eyes. Alive was no issue to the android. He whisked through the air, his cape-like cloak flapping sharply, as he wrapped his opponent's neck from behind and flinging him into the gathering of wooden benches. Something wasn't right, Dust was fully positive he had let go of the android, yet his feet failed to plant firmly on the floor. He felt himself pulling faster along with the mystery attacker, until they both crashed hard into the furniture.

Protoman gave his foe no chance to slip away once he showed himself. In the black cloud of dust, he reached out, extending his baton in his right hand, while keeping a tight magnetic hold on his slippery friend with the other. All he could make out were the glowing orange eyes, making the perfect target for his swings. He landed three stiff blows against what felt like forearms before the feet caught his knees, sweeping him onto his back. Out of pure instinct, Scott ejected his shield, covering himself.

The loud clangs were deafening, as Dustman pounded away with two thick chair legs against the androids "shell" as he crawled back like a wounded turtle. The shell moved suddenly and Dust's arms froze in place, held by an invisible force. Through his orange-colored vision he saw the pulsing waves emitting from the android's left hand, polarity. His eyes grew wide with rage, putting two and two together. "You!" He screamed through his mask as he began to power through the magnetic hold.

"Oh shit." Scott managed to mutter before his grip gave way, and the officer was planting his knees into his chest. Proto managed to bring his shield around after the first three blows from the chair legs cracked his visor. He knocked the enraged android off and quickly rolled to a safe distance. But no matter where he went, his foe was like a poltergeist, always there to attack viciously. He understood his disadvantage, this wasn't a fight in the dark, not for the enemy at least. If there were one thing Scott would not allow to happen, it was being beaten at his own game by way of cheating.

The orange eyes emerged from the dust as Protoman felt his scarf being wrapped around his neck followed by the sudden sensation of weightlessness. As he was flipped to the floor, he looked up at his assailant, placing a finger to the polarity node installed in his helmet and let out a full strength EMP burst. The orange eyes went away, and Scott went on the offensive.

Dustman, now as blinded as all of his foes had once been, turned to retreat. But much like he had just done, Proto had grabbed his cloak, wrapping it around his neck and snatching him to the ground. The impact knocked his bearings loose, not that he could really gather them anyhow, he had never felt so helpless. Dust tried to fend the android off, blindly trying to predict where the next hit would come from. He rose to his knees looking around, seeing nothing, then feeling the steel staff hammer at his midsection doubling him over. He violently swung into the blackness, but connected with nothing before clumsily pulling himself to his feet.

After a second of standing still, listening for any movement, the goggles flickered, returning his vision as the EMP waves wore off. His relief was cut short when the first sight to illuminate was his aggressor, left arm in the form of a high powered rotating fusion rifle from the forearm down. "Boo." Protoman said subtly from under if full-faced visor, before the barrels spun with a whirring sound, projecting dozens upon dozens of fusion bolts through the android's body, perforating the wall behind him.

Dust lay in a heap on the marble floor, barely able to control basic functions. Puncture wounds of this severity would be enough to shut down any given android, but the addition of highly compressed dust in the atmosphere degenerated him at an unprecedented rate. By the time Scott had walked upon him, he was already gone from the world. No final curses, no act of defiance, just empty, dead eyes staring through orange goggles. "You didn't damage the core chip, did you?" Tracy said over comms, interrupting his moment of skulking.

"No, Tron. There is still a skull for you to dig through." He replied, shaking his head.

"I don't think so, dick. I got the tools out for you already." She informed.

Scott deployed his shield, driving it down on Dustman's neck, severing his head. "Hey hold on! We agreed to take turns! I did Shroud..."

"Right." She interrupted, " _Then_ we agreed to take turns. You go first."

Proto made his way in the general direction of the exit, "This is total bulls..." He began, but was stopped short, exiting into the night air.

The sight before him sent a shock through his system. General Gutsman stood in front of his aircraft clad in a long, brown dress coat with his hands in his pockets. "Mr. Bonne," He said in his low, subtle, menacing voice, "I see you've been busy." Guts nodded to the lifeless, masked head of Dustman.

Eying the General, Protoman slowly circled to his left, making sure to not let his guard down. "Where's your army of machines? I wonder." Scott said, sarcastically.

Guts said nothing, only following Scott with his hateful stare. " _Eternal entombment."_ He repeated in his head. "As much as it would please me to crush your fucking skull right now," The android said through clenched teeth, "we are unfortunately stuck with each other until a mutual _issue_ is dealt with."

Protoman stopped, cocking his head as if to mimic Rush. "Wow. Just like that, huh?" He asked. "Sure, let me just grab my good pair of jeans and we can get going."

The General took his bare hands from his pockets, showing he was unarmed, "I don't have time for your goddamn jokes." He said, "Right now the only other being that knows you two are alive is waiting for me report back with news of your capture."

Scott smiled slyly, "You're being blackmailed." He said, "And whoever this android is wants us alive."

Gutsman raised his chin in disgust, "He won't." He said cryptically.

Protoman activated his comms, "Tron, bring The Phantom down." He smiled like a jester, "And prepare the guest room."


	5. Operation: Don't Die

**Chapter 5**

"Not a fucking chance!" Tron shouted from the loading ramp, perched inside of her jet-black mech. She kept her artillery aimed at Gutsman's head, "Scott, step away from the psychotic megalomaniac and cover your face." She added slowly as Rush snarled beside her.

"Tron, wait..." Scott began to say, putting a hand up.

"She won't do it." Guts interrupted in a flat tone, hands back in his pockets.

Scott turned his head to him, "Dude, you _really_ don't wanna test that theory." He said before looking back to Tracy. "Tron, we need him alive same as he needs us. There is a bigger threat than him right now."

"Bullshit!" Tracy yelled, "He's gonna kill us the second we drop our guard!"

Scott was exasperated, "He's not gonna kill us..."

"I _am_ going to kill you." Guts corrected, catching their attention. "Just not until our common enemy is taken care of."

Scott leaned forward to Guts, "You're not helping." He whispered.

"So who is this 'mystery threat' then?" Tracy asked sarcastically. "We aren't going to take you at your word, for obvious reasons."

Guts smirked, "If I told you _that_ , I would lose the comfort of my current working form." He answered. "Just know that if I intended to kill you, we wouldn't be standing here right now." He tossed Protoman a wired data chip, "I'll be in touch. Just remember, if I die, Wily and his officers discover that the two of you are still alive. You'll be hunted down like dogs." He shuttered a little, clenching his jaw, "If either of you die, the same happens to me. So _do_ be safe." He added sarcastically, before walking back to his ship.

Proto joined his sister on the platform, watching their enemy fly away. "What do we do now?" Tracy asked.

"Kill ourselves and inconvenience him." Protoman said, removing his helmet.

The hatch began to close as the chest of the mech opened and Tracy stepped out. "This is serious, Scott." She said, clicking a button prompting the mech to walk itself away. "Shit like this isn't something to laugh about."

He turned around, stopping as she almost bumped into him, "What would you have me do? He's evil to the core, yes, but he _wasn't_ lying." Scott tossed his helmet on the worktable along with Dustman's head, removing his gauntlets, "Pass the fucking saw."

Tracy nodded, realizing he was right, they were stuck with this. "Ok." She said, passing him the die cutter, "We go along with this for now, but we stay _our_ course too. So we go with your plan." She added smiling, "Let's go get ourselves killed."

 _ **Aboard The Accolade**_

Guts paced in his command center, the eyes of Quickman followed via holo communication. "So, General." Quick said impatiently, "Your ship arrives on the scene four minutes and forty-two seconds after Dusty goes offline. No Bonnes."

Guts, now in his white tank top, raised an eyebrow, "I told you, Dust had filled that room so much I could barely find his body."

"You _did_ say that." Quick replied condescendingly.

"What are you implying, _Lieutenant_?" Guts snapped.

"That you _killed_ my subjects!" Quickman shouted back.

Gutsman was infuriated, "You will check your fucking tone with me!" He scolded, "I am still your superior!"

"Tell yourself that _android._ " Quick replied in the rawest form of disrespect possible. "But if I don't hear a peep out of the Bonnes in the next three days, I'll be sure to have a new _superior_."

The holo flickered away as Guts went into a blind rage, smashing equipment as he roared obscenities. After taking a moment to gather himself, he retrieved the small wired data chip from his pocket, linking it into his control hub.

"Wow. Needy much?" The irritating android replied from the other end of the line.

"I need you to kill someone." Guts replied dryly.

 _ **Cathedral of Saint Paul-St. Paul, Minnesota**_

Protoman and Tron stood outside of The Phantom, gearing up for the assassination to come. "So why have us come kill _this_ guy, but not _the_ guy?" Tron asked as she pulled her long black hair into a bun and fastened her goggles.

"He says " _the"_ guy is expecting that, and would know before we even got the chance." Scott answered, helping her fasten her black, fire-retardant vest.

"Did he happen to say anything else, besides what we already know?" She questioned, slinging her fusion rifle over her shoulder and putting on her gloves.

Scott nodded, "Yeah, he said 'Don't die.'"

 _ **Willis Tower-Chicago, Illinois**_

Over sixty-thousand feeds broadcasting throughout Megatropolis, all to one place, the Mega-hub of Lieutenant Quickman. His ability to transmute nitro-active fusion throughout his body was not the only use for his talents. His processor core worked four hundred times faster than any other android of his kind, he could receive, comprehend and relay information from any one of the tens of thousands of feeds in the blink of an eye. But at this moment, it was one feed in particular that he was interested in. Inside the front gate of Heatman's headquarters, a slender female dressed in all black combat gear opened a small backpack, placing a cylinder-shaped device on the ground. When the bright red flares rocketed into the sky Quick knew it was a trap, but the beta class patrol drones weren't capable of seeing that. He could only watch on as dozens of feeds were drawn to the source of the distraction, all revealing the unmistakable smirk of Tracy Bonne before thirty-seven feeds cut to blackness and flickered away.

 _ **Cathedral of Saint Paul**_

"You guys are so fucking stupid." Tron hummed under her breath, watching the swarm of drones descended upon the flares' source. She dropped to the ground clicking the small key on her wrist, sending a small orb skyward from the center of the cylinder. The detonation sent yellow embers cascading around her as she continued to mutter to herself, "Alarms in three, two..."

The blaring screeches rudely interrupted Heatman's vigorous task of melting down human remains for fusion additives. His setup in the cathedral's hollowed cellar consisted of crates of corpses to be placed in a mounted cage, over a massive vat. He stood donning his thick, orange, steel chest armor over a yellow nanosuit. He was a pale, red-eyed, bald android, as ugly as they came. But that was hardly a problem considering his cubed, form-fitting helmet hinged from the back of his armor, covering his entire head, save for his ferocious eyes.

Heat strolled down the ramp from the vat, flipping his zippo lighter-like helmet back. After ten minutes of trying to get his drones and gearbots to report, he frustratedly called out for his personal security droid. "Axion!" He shouted, awaiting a response.

"We're sorry, Axion is currently unavailable at this moment. Please leave a message after the beep." A voice said from the corridor. Protoman emerged from the shadows dragging a crumpled pile of security droid. He hurled it through the air toward the android, as he mimicked a high pitched beep.

Heat quickly dropped his head gear back over his face as his attacker raised his left arm, firing a downpour of hyper-focussed fusion. Putting up his own arms, his orange gauntlets twisted open at the wrist, spraying waves of sizzling magma. The lava both absorbed the bolts and put his assailant on the defensive.

Protoman deployed his shield and ran head first toward his target. He slammed the android in the chest, but that only slightly threw Heat off his balance. While the magma had ceased for a split second, Scott took the opportunity to arch his staff low, connecting behind the left leg of the officer, and sending him airborne, to his back. In the same motion, he brought the other end around, crashing against Heatman's helmet. The armor was durable, Proto would give him _that._ The sudden reverberation shook him to the core, as he activated his EMP to buy him a couple seconds to fall back and regroup.

 _ **Ten Minutes Earlier**_

Tracy stalked down the aisle, toward what used to be the large alter. Now in its place was the machinery controls, used to operate cranes that loaded and transferred the massive crates of bloated corpses throughout the compound. Heatman's security droid, Axion, stood continuing to operate the controls, while the gearbots swarmed her way. The eyes of their skulls were bright red and their guns raised. She dropped to one knee, rolling multiple canisters down the aisle as they neared into range. When the devices exploded they coated the floor in a clear, thick silicon, clogging the tank-like tracks of the machines, and rendering them immobile. Tron slung the rifle from her back and opened fire on the helpless bots before they even had a chance to register an error.

Axion lifted his flame-shaped skull, eying the intruder. He raised his arms and fired on his target, but she remained unharmed. The bolts seemed to veer as she calmly walked around the pile of gearbots. The droid was trying to process the reason for failure when he was gripped from behind by an unseen force. Tracy Bonne was the last thing he saw as he was crushed instantly.

"Took you long enough." Tron said, playfully, "A few more bolts and my absorber would have been toast." She clicked her thumb and the invisible field rippled and deactivated.

"You know how many 'roller skulls' there were between me and the drone hatches?" Proto asked, stepping from behind a large pillar. "A lot." He added, picking up Axion's remains.

"Give me a few minutes to get into the interface." Tracy said, opening the machinery holo. "You can stay alive that long, right?"

Scott shrugged, "Guts demanded it, so I kinda have to." He replied, entering the cellar.

Heatman slowly scanned the room through his dented helmet. The android had scrambled his systems and disappeared amongst the crates. This angered him even more. A huge cloud of thick, grey dust began to fill the room, making it hard to get a read on his surroundings.

Protoman made a leap over the crate, driving both feet into the head of his foe, snapping the latch on his protective lid. He circled the blind android, throwing heavy baton strikes into the weak areas of his armor, as he waited for Tron to bring the machinery online. Heat sprayed a wild stream of magma in Scott's direction, melting the side of one of the containers and spilling rotted bodies onto the floor. Avoiding the mess, Protoman hooked the arm of the officer and spun him spine-first against the hard steel.

Besides leaving a big dent, Heat bounced back on the offensive, rebounding with a hard right cross. Protoman fell back onto the pile of humans, quickly holding his baton in front of him and ejecting the staff, driving it under the chin of the android, knocking his head back by force. Enraged, Heat advanced faster this time, only to be met by a swinging shipping container from his right.

"Took you long enough." Protoman said, over comms, watching his opponent struggle to his feet.

"You got this?" Tron replied, "I'm gonna start my contribution."

Before Proto could give her a quirky comeback the equipment was already destroying itself. He looked on in awe of the disaster scene, then over at Heatman who wasn't taking it so well. The officer was screaming in rage as he tried spraying the cranes with lava to make them fall, but was only half successful in his attempts. A stream caught the crux of one of the arms, causing the swinging container to drop slightly, Protoman's eyes grew wide as he could foresee the trajectory.

"N-n-no-no-no..." He began saying as the container slammed the side of the vat, turning it over and dumping it's contents directly onto the officer. Protoman quickly climbed atop one of the crates to avoid the molten river, "Shit!" He yelled, slamming his fist down onto the steel. He watched the small pieces of Heatman's armor float by and shook his head, looking into the camera of a passing crane, Scott put his hands up. "Guess I won't be shooting fire anytime soon!" He shouted in disappointment. But " _Hey,"_ he thought, _"at least we didn't die."_


	6. The Cigarette

**Chapter 6**

 _ **February 11, 2091(Ten Years Earlier)**_

 _ **The White House- Washington D.C.**_

" _Deep down, you knew it would end this way_." Gutsman's words seemed miles away to Scott, who sat beaten and bound in the bright-white holding cell. The General sat on the other side of the glass, glaring at him. Scott couldn't focus, his friends, the love of his life, even his dog, Shroud had killed them in front of him. Now this hulk of an android wanted to speak to him of outcomes and logic? He looked up, not bothering to wipe the blood from his eyes. "And how do you think it will end for _you_?" He asked.

Guts cocked his head, slightly offended by the question. "I don't believe _my_ well-being should be your central cause of concern, Mr. Bonne. Do you _really_ wish to spend your final moments trying to insult me?" He asked, genuinely.

Warily, Scott pointed across the room, "On the table over there, there's a pack of Reginald's cigarettes." He lowered his arm, "If we are gonna have a _chat_ before I die, can you at least bring me one?"

Guts nodded, walking over and sliding a cigarette and lighter in through the oxygen port. Scott chuckled morbidly at the irony in this, before lighting it and taking a deep drag.

"I haven't smoked in three years." He said casually, as the General looked at him impatiently. "I always believed, when I would have coughing spells, that they were killing me." He scoffed, shaking his head. "Funny how things work out in the end. You never know how you're gonna go, until it's too late to go back and change things."

Guts sat back in his chair, "Too late to go back, now Mr. Bonne. But it's a normal reaction to see the error of your ways, and realize the mistakes you've made. Unfortunately your friends and yourself have already paid the price. That's something you will have to take with you."

Scott laughed now, blowing out smoke as he flicked an ash on the floor. "I was referring to smoking." He said, holding up the cigarette. "If I could change _these_ course of events, I wouldn't. We all knew what we were getting into. We all knew _this_ day would come, General. But we _weren't_ going to lay down and take it."

"A foolish theory, if you ask me, Mr. Bonne." Guts replied, agitated. "You got _a lot_ of people killed with your false hope. These humans don't stand a fighting chance, why fill their heads with nonsense and bravado?" He leaned in close to the glass, "You are no better than us, in my opinion."

Scott looked down at the floor, taking another drag. "Hope." He said quietly, "Hope in the right hands can be crucial. I'm not a sentimental person, I know thousands will die because of it. But the way I see it they weren't really living to begin with." He tossed the cigarette down, stomping it out, "But if the one person who ends Wily's reign and destroys all of you was motivated by us, it was all worth it." He stared hard at Guts now, "Wily is a psychotic, power-hungry dictator. He created an army of free-thinking machines to be just as ruthless." He scoffed, "How long before there's a chink in _that_ armor. You don't need to respond or accuse me of mind games, because it's something that's already been running through your head." Scott smirked, spitting blood on the floor, "Welcome to the human world. Where _you_ are no better than _us._ "

Gutsman began to experience rage now. Not just at the comments, but at the complete misconception he had of the human before him. Scott's ideals were dangerous and reckless. Guts had expected something different, something more _humane_ from his prisoner. The only thing that comforted him was knowing that in a few hours Scott Bonne would be removed from the equation completely, never to trouble him again. "I think we've reached the end of our conversation, Mr. Bonne." Guts replied, as he stood up to leave.

"General." Scott said, stopping the android in his tracks. "You know what the difference between us is? Besides the obvious, of course."

Gutsman didn't bother to turn around, "Enlighten me." He responded.

"I knew this would end this way, like you said." Scott informed him, "You still think you're going to win."

"Enjoy Hell, Mr. Bonne." Guts replied.

"Thanks for the smoke, _Machine._ " Scott said, smirking, as the android walked out.

Glitch and Scott walked solemnly down the well lit corridors of the White House. They were surrounded by steel security droids and led by Gutsman, Shroud, and the King himself. Scott began humming "Renegade" by Styx, causing his friend to chuckle, despite the impending doom in their future.

"I fail to see the humor in the situation." Wily retorted, continuing to walk.

"We're reachin' the end of our journey, mate." Glitch replied, "You still got a _long_ road of troubles ahead of ya."

Wily scoffed, "You highly overestimate the will of these sheep." He stopped, turning to face them, "Take comfort in the fact that once the two of you lay with holes in your heads, these people are _mine._ "

For a brief second Scott glanced over, meeting eyes with Guts, before Wily's forehead drove into his nose, causing him to drop to his knees, seeing double. He began to snicker as he was snatched to his feet, and the men were escorted to their deaths, and the General could move forward with his existence, worry-free.

 _ **April 17, 2101**_

 _ **Eisenhower Executive Office Building**_

Guts sat at his workbench, donning a sliver, red-eyed headgear and one gauntlet as he picked up the diamond grinder. He recalled the conversation with Scott Bonne with one hundred percent accuracy, such being a perk of having a memory core rather than an organic brain. With a thought, the silver armor sprang from the glove, covering his right arm. He held the arm up, making three quick chopping motions. Raising the grinder, he began shaving down millimeters of the hinging bolts for better movement speed.

Lord Zero had taught him years ago, the art of always seeking to improve your assets. The armor he had was impenetrable, but he needed two key things badly, vision and agility. He would need these improvements if he intended to fulfill his destiny, eradicating the androids that stood in his way, and seizing the crown from a delusional old man who once had the world in his hands. Killing fellow androids, the thought brought him back to the cigarette and Scott Bonne, which reminded him of his own hypocrisy, a vicious circle of mental juggling. He prided himself on being the protector and leader of the machines, striking down any who would dare bring on wrong-doing. Yet, he had sentenced three androids to their death, and planned to murder three others.

All he could picture was Bonne, with that jackal's grin, smoking that fucking cigarette. _A final act of defiance? Celebration? Did it symbolize that Scott knew something that he didn't?_ Guts was thinking himself in circles, refusing to let a human get inside his head. He would never know the answer for sure, the frustrating fact was that Protoman was not the man he spoke with all those years ago.

The comms chimed inside his helmet, causing his thoughts to be interrupted. "Yes, Quick." He answered, slightly annoyed.

"Where the hell have you been?!" Quickman questioned. "I've been trying to reach you for hours! The Bonnes killed Heat!"

Guts went back to grinding at the arm piece, subtly showing a lack of respect. "I've been busy with our _King_ , trying to get our original base of operations back in working order while trying to root out the Megaman." He answered over the loud noise. "Forgive me if I wasn't wearing my comms the entire time."

Quick shook his head furiously, "I'm sick of waiting on you and your shortcomings. I'll get my hands on them some other way, but it's time you faced the music, General." He said beginning to open his console.

Gutsman quickly changed his tune, "Quickman, wait!" He said. "I am finished with all of my detail. Give me twenty-four hours and I guarantee they will stand before you."

"This is it, Guts. No more chances. I want to be looking at them tomorrow!" Quick demanded, before the holo blinked out.

The General looked down, noticing the clasp had split and the bottom half of the steel sleeve had retracted. He gritted his teeth as he snatched the broken top half off and activated his comms.

"Heroes for hire." Protoman answered on the other end.

"It's time we end our little rapport. I'll need to bring you to our common problem in order for this to work." He paused for a second, "I would say 'trust me', but we both know what's going to happen once he's dead, but we will deal with that _then_."

"This plan doesn't sound the least bit shady, so no sweat." Proto responded, "We are kinda in the middle of something, so you can meet us after. That is of course, unless you want to come join."

Guts could hear the cocky grin over the scratchy audio, when his emergency comms went off. He quickly cut transmission and answered the line, hearing Quickman activate his mic.

"You're in luck, big guy. I just picked up the Bonnes at Crashman's weapons depot." He said, "I suggest you get a move on, _sir._ "

General Gutsman said nothing. Instead he removed his prototype helmet, and grabbed his battle case on the way to The Accolade. " _Fucking Bonnes"_ He thought, as he smashed open the door.


	7. Crashing Down

**Chapter 7**

 _ **Aboard The Phantom**_

Scott sat on the couch sulking, still in his nanosuit with his helmet on his lap. Tracy was reading intently through Dr. Light's files with her chin on her palm. She let out a sigh, rubbing her eyes, "Well, we certainly have our fair share of officers to choose from." She said, looking over at him.

"Think you could find one who has access to transmuting rubber duckies?" Scott asked sarcastically, still staring at the holovision.

Tracy shook her head, "You _do_ realize that Heatman wasn't my fault right?" She asked, "But the fact remains, he's dead all the same, which is still a win."

"We needed his core chip." Scott replied. "I can't get by with just dust and magnetism. I have to be able to keep up with Alex if we are gonna swindle him."

Poking away at the holo-interface, Tracy rolled her eyes. She stopped on a file, sitting forward, "I've heard of this guy." She muttered to herself.

Scott shook his head, "Where are we headed now?" He asked

Tracy got up from her chair, "New York." She said, "Go change and bring me your suit."

Scott stood up, "Should I ask why?"

Tracy grinned, "It needs heavy reinforcement first, with better explosive protection."

Scott cracked a smile, "I got a feeling I'm gonna like this. If I'm not killed, that is."

 _ **Electronic Park**_

 _ **Syracuse, New York**_

From above the building looked like a small city. Rush and Protoman stood at the loading bay, waiting for the signal. On the south side of the cluster, Tracy located the materials and processing building. "Here we are." She said over comms. "It's kinda morbid, but cripple their operations as bad as possible before you confront Crashman. Just in case you don't make it." She said.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." He replied before diving into the open air with Rush. "Nice and easy." Scott said to the dog as they barreled straight down, at high speeds. Flipping himself off of his transport, Protoman landed hard on his feet, cracking the concrete. He wasted no time activating his EMP before ripping the metal door from its frame. Once inside, he saw the drones sparking on the floor as the human workers looked around, confused. "Get out, now." He said, "Run!" The frightened people rushed for the door as he walked through the small group, in the opposite direction. He began magnetically crushing and twisting machinery, when his scanners picked up something better.

Scott came walking out onto the sidewalk where the group of people stood, talking amongst themselves. Without saying a word he dropped the steel crate on the ground and began to open it. While he pryed loose the bolts to the lid, his comms activated, on the encrypted line. "Heroes for hire." He answered.

The General seemed slightly agitated, "It's time we end our little rapport. I'll need to bring you to our common problem in order for this to work." He paused for a second, "I would say 'trust me', but we both know what's going to happen once he's dead, but we will deal with that _then_."

"This plan doesn't sound the least bit shady, so no sweat." Proto responded, pulling the mortar arm from the crate and firing a round into munitions warehouse, setting off a massive fireworks show. "We are kinda in the middle of something, so you can meet us after. That is of course, unless you want to come join." He grinned as the line went dead.

Tracy came over comms, "Alright, the servbots are almost through in the communications bunker. Move on to the housing units."

"You got it _boss_." Proto replied as he made his way across the street, toward the massive building. "You disabled the alarms _that_ fast?" He asked, noticing the eery silence.

"No." She responded simply. "Something's not right, though. Robbie gained access to the main terminal, and it's reading that all external communications and alerts have been disabled already." Scott could almost hear her brain sizzling. "Someone doesn't want anyone to know we are here."

"And that 'someone' has some serious control over Wily's security." Scott finished. "How much you wanna bet that's our guy?"

Tracy rolled her chair over to the main console, bringing up Light's android files. "Finish this quick," she said, "we need to get out of here before the General shows. In the meantime I'm going to root out our _friend._ "

When Protoman broke through the door, he found himself standing in a huge lobby. The walls and shops had been modified into clear, glass cells filled with people. All banging and screaming silently in his direction. "Alright, alright." He said, motioning for them to calm down, with his hands. "You gotta know I can't hear you, so you're wasting your breath."

"They are trying to tell you 'It's a trap.'" A voice said from across the room.

Crashman stepped out, wearing a pearl-white nanosuit with dark pink gauntlets and boots. He had a stern-chiseled face tightly secured in a matching helmet, with a thick glass visor sealing the front. "You are so predictable. Going for the poor defenseless huma..." Crash stopped, eying his adversary. "You aren't him." He said, confused.

Protoman grinned, pulling his hilt, slowly. "I've been getting that a lot lately." He quickly deployed his shield to bat away the sudden launch of cylindrical, blinking explosives. But he soon realized the difference between regular mines, and _latching_ mines. "Oh shi..." he managed to begin before the explosion sent him out the door, across the street, and through the blocked wall of a robotics junk house. The bottoms of the shelves collapsed over his body, dumping piles of scrap parts onto him. Digging himself out of the mess, Scott saw the android crossing the street, raising his arm to fire more. He hurled his shield into Crash's chest, causing the mines to fly wildly through the air, as he stood up and rushed his foe.

Crash took four rapid fusion shots to the chest, scorching his nanosuit, before the shield flew back into his charging opponent's hands and he was bashed to the ground. Protoman fell clumsily with him, but wasted no time trying to mount and pummel his visor. After two quick punches, Crash reached back, grabbing a slab of concrete and brought it up hard against the androids helmet.

Protoman fell back, his vision skipping and freezing, trying to readjust from the impact. He hastily jolted his EMP, causing Crashman to screech in pain as he unleashed a heavy dose of dust, covering the officer. Scott stood up, deploying his staff, and began to weave a series of calculated strikes to his head and legs, while Crash tried desperately to wipe his visor clean.

Crashman could feel the blows weakening his internal parts. He made a blind lunge out of the dust toward his attacker, but was only met with open air, as he hit the pavement hard. There was heavy impact against his helmet as the boot drove his head violently upward. He was flipped to his back, where he fired three mines, which were once again caught by the shield.

Protoman was thrown a block away by the blast, tumbling and rolling another twenty feet before coming to a stop. He was a tattered wreck, but from the looks of his enemy he didn't feel alone in that regard. "Tron," he muttered over comms, "get the bots in there to get those people out. He's headed my way, now."

The flood of small yellow servbots began to crowd in through the front door, behind Crash, who turned around to see them. His suit was burned and ripped, his clear visor spider-webbed with cracks. There was no way he would let those humans escape, not while he was alive. He raised his arm at the group of servbots. There was a sudden screeching in his helmet, causing him to grab his head. He turned around to see Protoman struggling to his feet, pressing a key on his headgear.

"Last I checked," Scott said, through his half-broken, black visor, "your fight was with me."

Crash screamed ferociously, as he charged up the street, avoiding the storm of fusion discs. He raised his arm firing two mines at the android.

Protoman kicked up his staff, catching it in one hand, and hurled it like a javelin. Guiding it magnetically, he intercepted the crash bombs on the tip and dropped it at Crashman's feet. He watched as the explosion rid his foe of his lower extremities and sent his top half hurling toward him. Scott took a step back, watching the android smack the ground at his feet. Looking into the shocked face of his enemy, he called his hilt back to his hand and deployed the shield. Crash gave a defiant look up until the end, when the shield came down decapitating him. Protoman reached down tiredly, picking up the severed head.

"Scott, we got company!" Tron said in his ear. "We need to leave, now!"

Scott made a dash for The Phantom, as he saw the Accolade touching down on the next street over. He neared the loading bay and hopped in, right as Gutsman was approaching.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Guts shouted up as the ship raised slowly.

"Don't worry, General," Scott said, grinning, "we're gonna stick to our own plan."

"You pieces of shit!" The android yelled.

The bay door had already sealed. The Phantom began to make it's way through the sky, when lower cannons opened fire on Gutsman's ship. Had it not been for deploying his armor, the blast would have incinerated him in a split second. He stood amongst the flames and smoke, encased in his suit, thinking of the many ways he could kill them slowly.


	8. In Transit

**Chapter 8**

 _ **Aboard The Phantom**_

Tracy came out of the weapons control room, removing her headgear. The sight of her battered brother standing in the corridor, holding a severed head didn't seem to bother her so much. "You look like hell." She told him simply.

"You..." He said in shock, "you blew up the General's ship."

"Yup." She replied nonchalantly, as she walked by him. "Kaboom." She added flatly.

Scott turned, watching her walking away. "Who's flying The Phantom?" He yelled.

"Robbie." She answered from around the corner.

He followed her into the command room, "Three things," he began, "one: How the hell is Robbie flying?" He stopped himself, "Actually, nevermind. Don't answer that. Two: What are we gonna do about the hundreds of people in the living quadrant?"

"I was thinking we could take them back, once things settle down." She replied, bringing up a series of holo-files on her console.

"You're joking, right?" Scott asked.

"One thing I've noticed over the years, is that Wilt and his machines operate like ants." She began, still scrolling through the files. "They cut losses and move on with operations." She popped a toothpick in her mouth while reading to herself. "Light took Hoover Dam an earlier today, meaning we wont have to worry about a loss of power, and Electronics Park could easily be made into the perfect safe haven for humans."

Scott nodded slowly. "So I take it you've figured out who we need to pay a visit?" He asked.

"Yup." Tracy responded, not looking away from her console. The three-dimensional holo of an android in black nano pants with bladed, red boots and gloves. Equipped with deadly, razor sharp boomerangs. His blood-red helmet bore curved, yellow jaw guards and an arching "V" on the front. "Quickman." She said, turning her chair to face Scott. "The quote-unquote _brain_ of Wily's androids. He's linked into every interface of Wily's operations simultaneously. He also controls coordination of information between androids and beta-class security droids."

"Shit." Scott replied. "It seems so obvious, now."

"He _would_ be the first person to have found us in Virginia. So it only makes sense that he would know you were still alive when Guts confronted us there." She leaned forward, elbows on her knees, "It would also explain Crashman's security and external communications being cut off, and The General still _conveniently_ getting there so fast."

Scott was still shaking his head, "How did we not see this?" He asked.

Tracy turned her chair back around, "Don't be so hard on us." She said. "Light has thousands of files on Wily's officers in here. I've been grinding day and night trying to locate one that fit the bill, and still would have been too if it weren't for this." She clicked a separate box, bringing up a conversation between Dr. Light and Megaman.

 _"He should pose little threat to you."_ Light said. _"His fusion energy only transmutes into high-octane firing fuel, making him move extremely fast. With your abilities, it should be a simple in and out. No resistance, no civilians, just him and some Beta-class security."_

 _"An assassination."_ Megaman said, bluntly.

 _"A strategic removal."_ Light corrected. _"He runs the network between Wily's officers. He is the reason the Sparkman_ _s_ _trike went to Hell."_

 _"We take him out and Wily can just communicate with his officers himself."_ Megaman added.

 _"Still a win. Wily is human, he gets tired, he has a lot to multitask already. If he has to play 'switchboard operator' for everyone, he will begin to falter in other tasks."_

 _"Is my gear ready?"_ He asked.

 _"You leave in ten."_ Light replied.

"Holy shit." Scott said quietly. "When was that?"

"Twenty minutes ago." Tracy replied. "Hence why we are hauling ass west. Head to the engineering bay so I can patch you up, you're about to go for round two."

As Scott stood up, the encrypted holocomms began to chime. "You think he's gonna ask for a ride?" He asked jokingly, before answering the call.

"Do you have any idea _just_ how bad you've fucked up, Bonne?" Guts asked through gritted teeth.

Scott could almost feel the tension through the comm waves. "General, to be honest, deep down you knew it would end this way."

Gutsman suddenly felt a surge of rage flow through him. It may have been coincidence, but hearing Scott start the conversation with that particular phrase brought him back to his final conversation with the man's human form. A conversation that haunted him for a decade now. "The two of you can take care of the problem at hand, for all I care. I have a more pressing matter at hand anyhow. But rest assured that I will spare no expense in getting my hands on you before this is over." He threatened.

Proto said nothing, only giving Guts a steady glare, before cutting comms, and smashing the device. He turned to Tracy, who sat quietly eavesdropping. "Good news is, we don't have to turn around." He said.

Tron smirked, "Bad news?"

He removed his broken helmet, letting the pieces fall on the floor, "Asshole robbed me of two minutes of repair time." He dragged his burned and bloodied body down the hall, carrying Crashman's head. His sister simply grinned and followed.

 _ **Syracuse, New York**_

Gutsman had been walking for miles, ignoring the constant chime of his holocomms. Quick had been desperately trying to reach him since Crash's death, but he was in no mood to be chastised by a subordinate at this moment. If Quick wanted to risk his neck dropping this on Wily, hours after the loss of the power grid, so be it. He had invested far more time and effort into the Bonnes than he felt they were worth. Megaman was the real threat in this war, and he intended to deal with him first and foremost. The more Quick focused on getting up with him, the less prepared he would be when his _prey_ showed up at his door very shortly. This made Guts smile, as his comms continued to chime.


	9. Ten Minutes

**Chapter 9**

 **Willis Tower- Chicago, IL**

Quickman was never known for his patience. Things had gone dark in New York, when the Bonnes attacked, and he wasn't sure what the outcome even was. Guts was AWOL but he doubted the General had been defeated, that was laughable. He didn't like not being in the know, he continued to reach out to both Gutsman and Crashman, to no avail. "Goddammit!" He shouted, dashing over to his drone interface console. The flying sentries in New York weren't picking up much, the entire area around Electronics Park was radiating with an electromagnetic field. His anger was unspeakable.

 _ **Aboard The Phantom**_

"I'm just saying," Scott was protesting from behind Tracy, "I'm not comfortable with Robbie flying The Phantom, when my life will be on the line."

Tron was settling into the weapons console, "Look, he's linked into the system and knows how to operate the controls, calm down." She put on her headset and noded gloves, "Besides, don't you want me down here to save your ass when things get hairy?" She asked sarcastically.

He shook his head, "I hope you're right." He replied.

Tron changed the subject, switching her display to electronic view. "Okay, we got here just in time. Alex just touched down on the roof." She clicked at the air, enhancing the view. "Robbie, approach the east side of the tower." She said, over comms. "Alright Scott, go open the exit port and wait for my signal." She sat patiently, waiting for Megaman to get exactly where she predicted he would go, directly to the maintenance shaft. "Ready Proto?" She asked.

"Looking at the wall now." He responded. He thought of the odds of pulling this off without a hitch. Shaking his head he knew it was a long shot, but hey, why not.

"He's on the ladder, go!" Tron shouted.

Raising his arm, Protoman fired twelve crash bombs, outlining Quickman's room. The force of the explosion was enough to rock the building like a massive sledgehammer. "Alex is down, move now!" Tracy yelled over comms, as Proto leaped from the ship, into a rolling landing inside the compound. "You've got about ten minutes, Scott. Get this done." He heard as he spotted his prey. Scott opened fire, as Quickman hastily disappeared from view.

 **Minute One**

The bladed boomerang came from his left, too fast to completely avoid. Scott dropped to his right, only taking a deep gash across his shoulder. He deployed his shield, hurling it toward his foe, who dashed away. The shield bounced off the walls and equipment, only vandalizing the room a bit. He unloaded fully automatic fusion fire, trying to lead the android and catch him mid-run. Scorching the walls, he heard the swoosh of the boomerang returning, from behind. He rolled forward, being slashed up the back. Catching his shield on the rebound, he decided to hold onto it from now on, as he reached out grabbing the boomerang magnetically and throwing it out of the building.

 **Minute Two**

Tracy aimed the underbelly gattling and opened up across the room. The fusion rounds peppered the room as Scott covered up behind his shield. Quick darted all over, avoiding tens of thousands of bolts.

Quick ran along the room, the fusion seeming to be in slow motion, he ducked and hopped through the rounds like a game. Planting a foot on the wall, he pushed himself off, leaping a small desk. When he turned his head to check his footing, his foe came up, red shield in hand, and planted him with it. The sudden reverse of momentum sent his sensors into a frenzy, as Scott Bonne stood over his grounded body, preparing to unload on him. Planting his palms, he propelled his body upward, slamming against the android and sending them both airborne.

 **Minute Three**

Proto was taken by surprise, being knocked off his feet. Quickman had struck him with a number of lightning-fast punches before the two of them had even hit the ground. When they finally did land, the officer was gone in a blink. Scott rolled to his feet, firing at the blur. Nothing even came close. He heard the familiar _swoosh_ of the second boomerang, as he quickly deflected it magnetically, deep into the south wall.

Quickman was suddenly in front of him, striking away at his head and chest. He retracted the shield while blocking the blows and deployed his baton. Proto sparked his EMP, which barely had an effect on the android, but gave him the millisecond he needed to retaliate. The baton struck hard, meeting with Quick's jaw and spinning him on his feet. Before a follow-up hit could connect, the android was gone again. Scott looked around, not seeing him.

 **Minute Four**

"You said you wanted us alive!" Protoman shouted, putting his hands out, "Here we are!"

"You think I'm afraid of you?!" Quickman responded. "I'm just enjoying our little game, Scott!"

Tracy used sonar to track the voice, finding him in a small dark corner behind Scott. She lobbed three fusion grenades from the pipe launchers. The small explosions were close but only made Quick skitter away.

"It's gonna take a lot more than the two of you and your pathetic toys to put me down, Bonnes!" Quick laughed.

 **Minute Five**

"Scott," Tracy said, "Alex is stirring, we don't have long."

"I'm working on it, _Tracy."_ He responded, deploying his staff.

Quickman came from behind, knocking his legs out from under him and kicking his abdomen as he fell. Soaring through the room, he turned his staff horizontally, catching on two computer servers on either side of him. Scott held the staff and brought both his feet up, catching Quickman in the chest as he pursued him. The kick sent Quick flying against the opposite wall, where Proto threw his weapon like a javelin, narrowly missing the android's head as he ducked.

 **Minute Six**

Proto was fast enough to follow up the throw with a volley of fusion bolts, making numerous contacts with his foe, as he ducked the staff. Quickman let out a series of yelps as he darted away, like a wounded animal.

"Where ya off to, Quick?!" Scott shouted as he scanned the room. He heard a faint chuckling from the corner. He turned to unload, only to be met with several smaller boomerangs raining in on him. They sliced away at his nanosuit as he let out a frustrating grunt and made a break toward their origin.

Quickman lowered his arm and decided to meet him head-on, deflecting his attacks and throwing fast punches of his own. The two circled in a frantic boxing match before a flash sparked, jolting his display slightly.

 **Minute Seven**

The EMP shot was a dirty move, made especially infuriating considering how Scott Bonne had acquired it. Before Quick could gather himself and lash out, Protoman had wrapped his arms around his waist and lifted him. The impact of being slammed down on a steel table was new to him, it threw him off his defenses, letting his nemesis drive an elbow down on his jaw.

Scott held the android in place for a moment, trying to beat him unconscious so he could end the frenzy before his "old pal" arrived. In the middle of his assault, Quick brought his knees around, catching him in the ribs. He was slightly staggered but his foe made it to his feet turning to escape.

 **Minute Eight**

Quickman's feet met the floor and he immediately pushed for retreat. But the yellow scarf was fast to slip over his head, and around his neck. Protoman yanked back as Quick tried to accelerate, bringing him directly to his back.

"I've had enough of _that_ shit!" Scott said through gritted teeth, as he called his hilt to his hand. Deploying his shield, as he done many times before, he drove it down to behead the officer. The concrete cracked, but Quickman was gone, along with Protoman's patience.

"Megaman's on the move!" Tron shouted over comms, as Proto sprayed the room with fusion, frustratedly. He scanned again for his prey, seeing nothing.

 **Minute Nine**

The small boomerangs descended on Scott from all sides, as he struggled to shield himself. He turned, receiving a lightning-fast boot to his chest. The blow sent him out the wall, sailing into the night. The weightless feeling was short-lived, as Rush was quickly under foot, stopping his fall. Pushing off the dog's back, he sprung back into the room, landing a fierce right cross on the android, who had come to watch him plummet. The two rolled on the floor, but Quickman had already made it to his feet, kicking Proto in the gut, and fleeing the scene.

 **Minute Ten**

Scott struggled to his feet, "Enough of this cat and mouse shit." He muttered over comms. "Where is he?" He asked.

Tron scanned the room with electronic sensory. "South wall, right corner."

"Gonna see how stupid he is." He said, limping to the left corner, as he filled the room with thick, black dust.

Quickman was hurt, bleeding and all around ready to end this encounter. The dust filled the windy room making it impossible to see. _Planning on sneaking up on me?_ He thought to himself, as he fired boomerangs in an arch through the black.

"How fast you gonna move on me now?!" Scott shouted. "When you got no guidance!"

Quickman grinned, he didn't need to see the android to kill him, following his voice worked just fine. He dashed, as fast as he could, along the south wall to meet his hated foe. Halfway there, he ceased to exist in the world.

The officer's headless body slid at Protoman's feet, as the dust was quickly sucked into the windy city. Scott limped over to Quickman's head, lying on the floor, just below the bladed boomerang that he had lodged in the wall earlier. "Seems I was right." He said over comms, before running and leaping back to The Phantom as it departed. Just in time to see Alex come rushing into the room, before they were gone amongst the clouds.

Scott looked over to his sister, who had awaited him by the loading bay, "Piece of cake." He said, tossing the androids head to her.


	10. First Annual Bonne Stakeout

**Chapter 10**

 _ **Aboard The Phantom**_

"Wily's gotta be running out of androids." Scott said, in awe, as he and Tracy watched the televised execution of two of his officers.

Megaman was looking worse for wear, but still had the wherewithal to overcome the ambush. "The cocky prick even winked." Tracy said, half disgusted, but half relieved. As much as she hated to side with Light's new creation, he _was_ their ticket to an easy overthrow.

"You feel that?" Scott asked, grinning. "We're almost there."

Tracy nodded, "Given Alex can get the job done." She replied. "We should move into position now, they've disabled my hack box."

"The first annual 'Bonne Stakeout'." He said, walking out of the main quarters toward the equipment locker. Tracy reached up and touched his arm.

"We gotta be realistic about this, Scott." She told him seriously. "We may not walk out of there with Wily. Hell we might not walk out of there." She added. "I just want you to know, it was worth it either way."

Scott could tell she was serious, he gave her a subtle nod. "Yeah, it was." He said.

 _ **Outside The White House Perimeter**_

It had been a long wait, for any kind of movement by Light. Scott was beginning to wonder if he had lost his nerve. Wouldn't be a surprise. "Anything?" Tracy had asked him, after returning from dinner.

"No, but the sun will be setting soon. We can expect them in about an hour or two." He told her.

"I'm sure _they_ will be expecting them too." Tracy added.

"I just hope they put together a good strategy. Guts and Wily aren't nimrods, the less time they give them to plan, the better." Protoman said.

Two hours later, the sun had gone down and Scott scanned the block with his night vision. The small group of commandos were silent, he would give them that, but the electronic scanners confirmed that one of the men was an android. Megaman, in the flesh, so to speak. He never expected to see Alex Light playing the hero, the feeling was surreal. "Tron, they're here." He said, over his shoulder.

The explosion on the West wing of the building took him by surprise. "Miller is rushing the West Wing." Tron said, looking through her magnifying scanner. "They're drawing security away from Wily. It's smart but you gotta think if he'll fall for it."

"Doubtful." Protoman said, lowering his visor and walking toward the exit. "I'm gonna get a closer look, stay here."

"Wait, what the hell are you doing?!" Tron half-shouted. "If anyone sees you we're fucked. You won't get within yards of Wily if he's caught."

"I need to assure that they succeed if we stand any chance at snatching him." Scott said, leaving before she could reply.

The soldiers waited, in formation by the East wing, with Megaman taking lead. Protoman and Rush carefully approached the adjacent side of the building. Rush slowly raised along the wall, while his companion stood on his back, preparing to fire on any sentry that awaited on the roof. The handful of sniper droids were stopped in their tracks, as a flurry of fusion discs removed their heads.

Proto ran along the rooftop to the main skylight. Looking in, he could make out his 'old friend', General Guts, marching quickly behind Wily toward the stairwell. They we right there, ten feet or so below, Protoman raised his arm cannon, readying a crash bomb for the back of Gutsman's head. The explosive fired wildly into the air, as the building shook to it's foundation, beneath his feet.

"Proto!" Tron said over comms. "Alex just went into the building! What's the situation?"

He dusted himself off, getting back to his feet. Wily and Guts were nowhere to be seen now, he shook his head. "He's gonna get a rude awakening if he is going where I think he is." Scott told her. It was like deja-vu. Alex would meet the same fate Scott had years ago, and more than likely been left for dead as well. The hallway was soon filled with hundreds of security bots, forcing Scott to take an alternate approach. Snatching a wire from one of the transmission boxes, he wrapped it around a corner post along the edge. He rappelled down, kicking in a window and sparking his EMP. The ceiling mounted turrets spun wildly, as he ran through, ejecting his staff.

In the upstairs ballroom he encountered a small garrison of security bots, standing on full alert. "I don't have time for this shit." He muttered, shaking his head. He raised his left arm, firing a crash bomb square into the chest of the front and center. Pushing the droid back magnetically, the explosion eliminated the majority of his opposition. He weaved through the remaining ranks, twirling his staff, knocking them about. Switching to his nunchucks, Proto made quick work before a shot was even fired.

The gearbots that followed behind the group was met with equal aggression. Scott made a forward leap, kicking the first two in the chest, while firing two quick bolts through their skulls. The others turned to return fire, but Protoman was a blur, and the enemies were in pieces before they even registered it.

Below him, in the silent room, he could hear fighting. It wasn't "battle rabble", he could discern the difference. This was an angry brawl. He enhanced the sound and followed the crashes across the room. Just as he blew the wall out to the balcony, he looked over, just in time to see Alex sliding across the floor below in a heap.

"I hate being rushed, but your friends seem to be more persistent than I gave them credit for." He heard from below. His eyes grew wide, realizing who Megaman was up against.

In a frenzy, Protoman dashed back into the ballroom, scanning the structure. By his calculations Gutsman should be stepping underneath it in seconds. He quickly fired ten crash bombs to each of the framework's weak spots and dove for cover. The blast was immense, and the structural collapse had knocked him clean off his feet and tumbling down the rubble to the floor. Raising his head, Scott found him staring into the face of Megaman. The android didn't react, so it was apparent he was offline. Proto picked himself up, hoping he hadn't accidentally killed their meal ticket to the Atlas. After a moment of beating himself up, he decided to take it upon himself to go pick up the King.

Protoman crossed the hall in his tattered nanosuit, entering the bunker's stairwell when he heard the shuffling of debris behind him. In the blink of an eye, he was behind the door as Megaman came rushing through, leaping down the stairs by the flight. His instincts and anger demanded he follow and claim what was rightfully his, but his sister was in his ear to defuse that thought.

"Proto!" She shouted over comms.

"I'm inches away, Tron!" He replied agitatedly.

"Scott, get the fuck out of there, now!" She cut him off. "Miller and about three hundred Light commandos are entering the east wing!"

Scott cursed, angrily, to himself as he made a run at astronomical speeds, back to The Phantom.

"We can't stay here." Tron said, not looking back as he entered. She was in a flurry, firing up the controls while maintaining stealth.

"I almost had him." Scott told her calmly, removing his helmet. "Where are we gonna go now?"

"This place has become _a lot_ more active than we had anticipated. _Everyone's_ here." She answered. Tron looked over her shoulder, grinning. "We're going back to Boston to wait for our former employer."

Scott began to chuckle quietly. "You _are_ a genius, little sis."

She lifted The Phantom from the ground, silently. "Like taking candy from a baby." Tron said with a sly smile on her face, as the morning sky came up to meet her. Over the horizon, Light Tower.

 _ **Note from author: If you haven't done so already, you can follow The Bonnes' hunt for Atlas in Megaman 2. Thank you for reading and stay tuned for the future. :-)**_


End file.
